This community is an un-mediated, patient-to-patient community for questions and support regarding Hepatitis A. Topics in this forum include but are not limited to, Causes, Diagnosis, Family and Relationships, Living With Hep A, Research Updates, Treatment, Success Stories, Support, Symptoms.

Do I need to be re-tested

I was travelling with my boyfriend and I went home and he continued on travelling. It seems that he came down with something and when he went home he was diagnosed with Hep A. In the interim I had just gone to my physician for a physical and all blood work was done because my Doctor is pretty thorough. All my tests came back negative including my Hep test. Do I need to be re-tested? According to all the information I am reading I am still in the incubation period. But I do not exhibit any symptoms as he does.

So my question is, I was just tested approx 1.5 weeks ago which was after my contact with him and he was just diagnosed with HEP A this AM - do I need to re-test or was my test of a week ago suffcient?

Hi there!
The incubation period of hepatitis A ranges from 15 to 45 days. It depends on the number of virus particles consumed. A person is usually infectious in the early stages of incubation period and remains so after a week of developing jaundice. IgM anti-HAV antibodies can be detected in the blood as early as 2 weeks after the initial HAV infection. If you had been in contact with your boyfriend during his infective phase there are chances that you have acquired the infection. It is best to discuss it with a local health care provider and get retested if necessary. Hope it helps.
Good luck!

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